Le Monde des religions, January-February 2008 —
The story takes place in Saudi Arabia. A 19-year-old married woman meets up with a childhood friend. He invites her into his car to give her a photo. Seven men suddenly appear and kidnap them. They assault the man and repeatedly rape the woman. She files a complaint. The rapists receive light prison sentences, but the victim and her friend are also sentenced by the court to 90 lashes for being alone and in private with a person of the opposite sex who is not a member of their immediate family (this offense is called khilwa in Islamic law, Sharia). The young woman decides to appeal, hires a lawyer, and makes the case public. On November 14th, the court increased her sentence to 200 lashes and added a further six-year prison term. An official at the Qatif General Court, which handed down the verdict on November 14, explained that the court had increased the woman's sentence because of "her attempt to inflame the situation and influence the judiciary through the media." The court also harassed her lawyer, preventing him from handling the case and confiscating his professional license. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have taken up the case and are trying to intervene with King Abdullah to overturn the court's unjust decision. Perhaps they will succeed? But for every woman who had the courage to speak out and make her harrowing story public, how many others suffer rape without ever daring to file a complaint for fear of being accused themselves of seducing the rapist or of having illicit relations with a man who was not their husband? The situation of women in Saudi Arabia, as in Afghanistan, as in Pakistan, as in Iran, as in other Muslim countries that strictly apply Sharia law, is intolerable.
In the current international context, any criticism emanating from NGOs or Western governments is perceived as unacceptable interference, not only by political and religious authorities, but also by a segment of the population. The status of women in Muslim countries therefore only has a real chance of improving if public opinion in these countries also reacts. The case I just described received media attention and caused quite a stir in Saudi Arabia. It is through the exceptional courage of certain women who are victims of injustice, as well as men sensitive to their cause, that things will change. Initially, these reformers can draw on tradition to demonstrate that there are other readings and interpretations of the Quran and Sharia law that give women a better place and offer them greater protection from the arbitrary nature of a patriarchal law.
This is what happened in Morocco in 2004 with the reform of the family code, which represents considerable progress. But once this first step is taken, Muslim countries will inevitably face a deeper challenge, a true emancipation of women from a religious concept and law developed centuries ago within patriarchal societies that did not recognize any equality between men and women. Secularism has enabled this extremely recent revolution in attitudes in the West. Undoubtedly, the definitive emancipation of women in the Islamic world will also require a complete separation of religion and politics.